Title - Rail passenger flow up by 7%

AHMEDABAD: Air traffic from Ahmedabad fell by nearly 10 per cent in the past four months. However, airlines' loss proved to be a gain for the railways. The railway traffic grew up by seven per cent in this financial year.

Sources in the Western Railway (WR) said that during the financial year 2011-12, on an average 52,500 passengers boarded trains from Ahmedabad daily. The railway traffic in the first four months of this financial year 2012-13 has increased to 56,412 passengers per day - an increase of 7.5 per cent.

"If we look at the trends the demand for the third and second AC for Mumbai and Delhi and even shorter distance was more. Even the demand for tatkal tickets for these classes were more than that of the sleeper class," said a WR official.

WR officials said the railway has recently added one AC three-tier coach each in five trains on permanent basis for the passengers' convenience. Of these five trains, two trains - Gujarat mail and Duronto - are from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. Both these train leave Ahmedabad late in the night. Officials claimed that despite adding these coaches the waiting list has not come down. They said that the night trains for Mumbai were more in demand. "It is only because the person can reach Mumbai early in the morning and return to Ahmedabad by the same train and after finishing his work that these trains have become so popular," said the official. He said Duronto was now a daily train.

"There has been an increase of about 8 to 10 per cent in the passenger traffic as compared to previous years. And this was only because the passengers travelling by air were shifting to railways," said Jitendra Kumar Jayant, public relation officer, WR Ahmedabad division.

Dinesh Mehta, an industrialist from Vatva said, "I travel to Mumbai and Delhi frequently. Earlier, I use to travel by air. However, when I once travelled by train I found it to be very convenient, financially and otherwise. Since I've started travelling by train, no one in my staff demand air travel. This has saved no less than Rs 50,000 per month on the travel expenses."

Echoes Jigna Shah, who works in a multinational: "As part of the cost cutting, my company has banned air travel. "I once travelled by Duronto and returned on the same train. I found it much comfortable than flight and now I prefer to travel by train only. I park my car at the station and take it back on return."